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Steven Pressley

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Steven Pressley
Pressley playing for Falkirk in 2009
Personal information
Full name Steven John Pressley[1]
Date of birth (1973-10-11) 11 October 1973 (age 51)[1]
Place of birth Elgin, Scotland
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2]
Position(s) Centre back[1]
Youth career
1987–1990 Inverkeithing United Boys Club
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1994 Rangers 34 (1)
1994–1995 Coventry City 19 (1)
1995–1998 Dundee United 100 (6)
1998–2006 Heart of Midlothian 271 (19)
2006–2008 Celtic 19 (1)
2008 Randers 9 (0)
2009 Falkirk 16 (0)
Total 468 (28)
International career
1991–1994 Scotland U21 26 (1)
2000–2006 Scotland 32 (0)
Managerial career
2005 Heart of Midlothian (Joint Caretaker)
2010–2013 Falkirk
2013–2015 Coventry City
2015–2016 Fleetwood Town
2018 Pafos
2019 Carlisle United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steven John Pressley (born 11 October 1973) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the manager of Carlisle United.

Pressley had a long playing career, playing for Celtic and Rangers and making over 100 league appearances for both Dundee United and over 250 for Hearts. Pressley captained the Hearts side that won the 2006 Scottish Cup Final, and made 32 appearances for Scotland. As a player, Pressley was described as hard-working and exhibiting leadership.[3]

After retiring as a player, Pressley was assistant manager of Falkirk, before being appointed manager in February 2010. Pressley also served as an assistant manager to George Burley while Burley was manager of Scotland. He moved to League One side Coventry City in March 2013,[4] but was dismissed in February 2015. He has since managed Fleetwood Town, Cypriot club Pafos and Carlisle United.

Club career

Rangers

Pressley was born in Elgin, Moray,[1] and was an Aberdeen fan in childhood.[5] He started his career at Rangers. During his time at Ibrox, he won a Scottish Cup winner's medal in 1993, appearing as a substitute as Rangers defeated Aberdeen in the cup final.[6]

Coventry City

Pressley was transferred to English side Coventry City in October 1994 for £600,000.[7] His one goal for Coventry came against Manchester United.

Dundee United

Pressley returned to Scotland in July 1995 with Dundee United, who paid a transfer fee of £750,000.[7] He helped Dundee United to get promotion to the Premier Division in his first season. This was followed by a third-place finish in the 1996–97 Scottish Premier Division.

Hearts

Pressley's penalty
Pressley scores past Gretna goalkeeper Alan Main in the 2006 Scottish Cup Final penalty shootout.

His influential style of play and his organisational skills were noticed by Hearts manager Jim Jefferies, and he was signed by the Edinburgh club on a Bosman free transfer in 1998. Pressley was appointed club captain by Craig Levein in 2001–02. Only Bobby Parker has held the Hearts captaincy for a longer period.

Pressley was captain when the team beat VfB Stuttgart, Bordeaux and Basel in European matches. He helped Hearts finish second in the league in 2005/06, third on three occasions, as well as reaching the Scottish Cup and League Cup semi-finals. Pressley led Hearts to success in the 2006 Scottish Cup Final, albeit on a penalty shoot-out after the club were held to a 1–1 draw with Gretna after extra time. Pressley scored the first penalty for Hearts, who eventually won 4–2. His enrolment into the Hearts Hall of Fame highlights the status that he enjoyed at Tynecastle.[8]

He acted as a spokesman for the playing squad in response to the various controversies affecting the club under the ownership of Vladimir Romanov. On 27 October 2006, Pressley led a press conference, flanked by fellow internationals Craig Gordon and Paul Hartley, announcing that there was "significant unrest in the Hearts dressing room" following majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov's most recent comments.[9] Romanov stated that he would sell players if Hearts failed to beat Dunfermline Athletic,[9] a match which ended 1–1.[10] However, this game was played out in front of a sell-out crowd who showed their vocal backing for Pressley, Gordon and Hartley. Pressley was then absent from the Hearts squad to face Falkirk on 13 November 2006 and he had been reportedly stripped of the captaincy.[11] A month later, on 9 December 2006, it was confirmed that Pressley and Hearts had parted company and was reported to be attracting the interest of several clubs.[12]

Celtic

Pressley leads out the Celtic team for a friendly match against FC Basel in July 2007.

Despite reported interest from Championship Derby County and Premier League Charlton, it was revealed in December 2006 that Pressley had been signed as a free agent by Celtic until May 2008.[13] Having previously played for Rangers, he joined players such as Maurice Johnston, Alfie Conn and Kenny Miller in crossing the Old Firm divide.

He made his Celtic debut on 2 January 2007 against Kilmarnock and then returned to Tynecastle as stand-in Celtic captain on 14 January. He scored his first competitive goal for Celtic against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup,[14] later scoring his only league goal against Hearts on 29 April 2007.[15] He featured in the Celtic team that won the Scottish Cup, making him the first player to do so with three clubs.[16] He made fewer appearances during the 2007–08 season, and he left the club after his contract expired in the summer.

Randers

After his release from Celtic, Pressley continued to train with Celtic Reserves to keep his fitness up and joined Doncaster Rovers, then Blackpool on trial but failed to win a contract at both clubs. Then, on 1 September 2008 he signed for Randers of the Danish Superliga on a four-month contract, ending in December.[17] Although he had the eagerness to play in a foreign country throughout his career, this was the first offer he had received from abroad. He said "The prospect of playing abroad excited me and it's an ideal situation for both parties. I had a couple of opportunities to go to England, but I wanted to play abroad and experience a new challenge".[18]

Pressley made his debut in a 1–1 draw against AC Horsens on 14 September and played the full 90 minutes of the match.

Falkirk

Pressley's contract with Randers expired in December 2008, the beginning of the Danish Superliga's Winter break, and he was linked with a move to a number of clubs in Switzerland as well as the manager's job at Inverness in his homeland, but joined Falkirk on 13 January 2009 on a short-term contract until the end of the 2008/09 season.[19] He made his debut for the club in a 3–1 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox Stadium on 18 January, and was an unused substitute in a 1–0 defeat to the same opposition in the 2009 Scottish Cup Final on 30 May.[20]

International career

Pressley was capped 32 times by Scotland. He is the most capped Scottish player at Hearts surpassing the record of 29 caps held by Bobby Walker. He made his debut in 2000 against World and European champions France.[21] His appearance against Lithuania on 6 September 2006 ensured that he surpassed Bobby Walker's 91-year-old record as Hearts' most capped Scotland player.[22] He was sent off in what proved to be his last appearance for Scotland, a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Ukraine on 11 October 2006.[23] Pressley served a two-match ban following the red card, which gave Stephen McManus the chance to step up to the international fold. McManus performed very well in Pressley's absence and ended up keeping him out of the starting eleven even after Pressley's suspension ended. Pressley retired from international football in February 2008 when he was named as Scotland's assistant coach, but continued to play club football until his official retirement in June 2009.

Management career

Hearts (caretaker)

Pressley had his first experience as a manager while still a player when he took charge of Heart of Midlothian as joint (caretaker) manager for two games at the end of the 2004–05 SPL season, losing both of the games.[24]

Scotland

Along with Terry Butcher, Pressley was named as an assistant to the Scotland manager George Burley in February 2008.[25] Pressley was Hearts' captain, and club captain, under Burley during his short reign at Tynecastle. Pressley was in the process of sitting his UEFA pro licence. He left his post as Scotland assistant coach in September 2009, following the country's unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign.[26]

Falkirk

During the summer of 2009, Pressley was appointed as an assistant manager at Falkirk, following his retirement as a player. Following the resignation of manager Eddie May on 11 February 2010, Pressley was appointed Falkirk manager on a contract until the end of the 2009–10 season.[27] Falkirk were relegated to the First Division at the end of the 2009–10 season.[28] Despite failing to gain promotion back to the SPL at the first attempt, Falkirk extended his contract for another year.[28]

Coventry City

Pressley was announced as the new manager of League One side Coventry City on 8 March 2013. He took over the position from Mark Robins, who resigned to join Huddersfield Town. Steven Pressley won his first match in charge the following day, 2–1 away at Scunthorpe. Later in March 2013, the club went into administration and were deducted 10 points, dropping Coventry City from 10th to 14th in the 2012–13 Football League One.[29] Coventry City finished the season in 15th place. In the 2013–14 Football League One season, Coventry City started with a 10-point deduction and had to play all of their home games in Northampton, 34 miles away.[30] Despite these obstacles, the club avoided relegation and finished in 18th place, and were realistic play-off contenders before the mid-season departure of striker Leon Clarke.

Following Coventry City's positive start to the 2014–15 season, speculation arose as to Pressley's future at the club, with rumours that Championship club Huddersfield Town were interested in appointing him.[citation needed] Coventry returned to the Ricoh Arena in early September, winning 1–0 before a crowd of 27,500 fans. Pressley signed a four-year contract with Coventry City in September 2014. The team struggled for form following Pressley's contract renewal with a low-point coming when Coventry City were knocked out of the 2014–15 FA Cup by non-league club Worcester City.[31] After a poor run of results in early 2015, Pressley was sacked by Coventry City on 23 February after his 100th league game in charge, with the club having dropped into the relegation zone.[31]

Fleetwood Town

Following his departure from Coventry City, Pressley worked as a scout for Premier League club Southampton.[32] Pressley was appointed manager of Fleetwood Town on 6 October 2015, replacing Graham Alexander.[33]

Pressley resigned as manager of Fleetwood Town on 26 July 2016.[34]

Pafos

Pressley was appointed manager of Cypriot First Division club Pafos in February 2018.[35]

Carlisle United

Pressley was appointed manager of English League Two club Carlisle United on 16 January 2019.[36] Carlisle had been in sixth place in League Two when Pressley took over, but they finished outside the promotion playoffs in 11th place.[37] Pressley then made a large number of changes to the squad during the 2019 summer transfer window.[37] He was dismissed by the board on 13 November 2019, with the team in 19th place.[37][38]

Backroom roles

On 10 May 2021, it was announced that Pressley would take up the role of Head of Individual Development at Brentford on 1 July 2021.[39]

Personal life

Pressley's son Aaron also became a professional footballer.[40]

Career statistics

International appearances

Scotland national team[41]
Year Apps Goals
2000 2 0
2001 0 0
2002 3 0
2003 10 0
2004 5 0
2005 8 0
2006 4 0
Total 32 0

Managerial record

As of match played 12 November 2019
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win %
Heart of Midlothian (Joint Caretaker) Scotland 11 May 2005 29 June 2005 2 0 0 2 000.00
Falkirk Scotland 11 February 2010 8 March 2013 138 59 35 44 042.75
Coventry City England 8 March 2013 23 February 2015 100 32 30 38 032.00
Fleetwood Town England 6 October 2015 26 July 2016 40 11 15 14 027.50
Pafos Cyprus 31 January 2018 9 October 2018 22 8 5 9 036.36
Carlisle United England 16 January 2019 13 November 2019 41 14 8 19 034.15
Career Total 343 124 93 126 036.15

Honours

Player

Rangers

Hearts

Celtic

Individual

  • Scottish Premier League Player of the Month: February 2004

Manager

Falkirk

Individual

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Steven Pressley". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Steven Pressley: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Celtic sign ex-Hearts star Steven Pressley". RTÉ Sport. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  4. ^ "Steven Pressley: Coventry City appoint Falkirk boss as manager". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  5. ^ Pressley, Steven (17 October 2020). "17/10/2020, Off the Ball – BBC Radio Scotland". Off the Ball (Interview). Interviewed by Tam Cowan, Stuart Cosgrove. BBC Radio Scotland. 00:32 minutes in. Retrieved 17 October 2020. ...my father was born in The Broch...so with that side of the family, Aberdeen was my team.
  6. ^ a b McKinney, David (30 May 1993). "Football / Scottish Cup Final: Rangers continue to reign supreme". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  7. ^ a b Steven Pressley at Soccerbase
  8. ^ "Hearts fans to have say over third Hall of Fame induction". The Scotsman. 30 September 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  9. ^ a b "Romanov issues player ultimatum". BBC Sport. 27 October 2006.
  10. ^ "Hearts 1–1 Dunfermline Athletic". BBC Sport. 28 October 2006.
  11. ^ "Pressley loses captain's armband". BBC Sport. 13 November 2006.
  12. ^ "Pressley and Hearts part company". BBC Sport. 9 December 2006.
  13. ^ "Celtic win race to sign Pressley". BBC Sport. 29 December 2006.
  14. ^ Lindsay, Clive (25 February 2007). "Inverness CT 1–2 Celtic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  15. ^ Lindsay, Clive (29 April 2007). "Celtic 1–3 Hearts". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  16. ^ a b Taylor, Julian (26 May 2007). "Celtic 1–0 Dunfermline". BBC Sport.
  17. ^ "Pressley joins Randers". Thescotsman.scotsman.com. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
  18. ^ "Pressley makes Danish move". Sportinglife.com. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
  19. ^ "Bairns pick up Pressley". Skysports.com. 13 January 2009. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
  20. ^ "Rangers 1–0 Falkirk". BBC Sport. 30 May 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  21. ^ "France spoil Scottish party". BBC Sport. 29 March 2000.
  22. ^ Pressley set to equal Scots cap record at Hearts Scotsman.com Sport, 2 September 2006. Accessed 16 October 2006
  23. ^ Moffat, Colin (11 October 2006). "Ukraine 2–0 Scotland". BBC Sport.
  24. ^ "Hearts Management Stats". Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  25. ^ "Butcher and Pressley join Scots". BBC Sport website. 4 February 2008.
  26. ^ "Pressley exits post with Scotland". BBC Sport. 26 September 2009.
  27. ^ "Steven Pressley succeeds Eddie May as Falkirk manager". BBC Sport. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
  28. ^ a b "Falkirk extend Steven Pressley's contract as manager". BBC Sport. 30 April 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  29. ^ "Coventry City deducted 10 points by the Football League". BBC Sport. 28 March 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  30. ^ "Coventry City groundshare with Northampton 'a disaster'". BBC News. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  31. ^ a b "Coventry City: Steven Pressley sacked by struggling Sky Blues". BBC Sport. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  32. ^ McCartney, Aidan (3 August 2015). "Steven Pressley says he's left a legacy behind at Coventry City Academy". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 4 August 2015. I'm doing a little scouting now for Southampton but purely until I have the opportunity to come back into the game at the right club.
  33. ^ "Fleetwood Town: Steven Pressley appointed manager". BBC Sport. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  34. ^ "Steve Pressley: Fleetwood Town manager resigns from League One club". BBC Sport. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  35. ^ Turner, Andy (5 February 2018). "Former Coventry City boss Steven Pressley back in the game". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  36. ^ "Steven Pressley: Carlisle United name ex-Scotland defender as new manager". BBC Sport. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  37. ^ a b c "Steven Pressley: Carlisle United sack manager after 10 months in charge". BBC Sport. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  38. ^ "CLUB STATEMENT: Steven Pressley leaves United". www.carlisleunited.co.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  39. ^ "Steven Pressley appointed as Head of Individual Development". www.brentfordfc.com. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  40. ^ "The Official Heart Of Midlothian Football Club Fixtures | Match Centre". www.heartsfc.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  41. ^ National Football Teams profile
  42. ^ "IRN-BRU Phenomenal Awards – September 2011". www.spfl.co.uk. Scottish Professional Football League. 6 October 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  43. ^ "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards – October 2011". www.spfl.co.uk. Scottish Professional Football League. 18 November 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  44. ^ "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards – January 2012". www.spfl.co.uk. Scottish Professional Football League. 17 February 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  45. ^ "IRN-BRU SFL Phenomenal Awards – February 2012". www.spfl.co.uk. Scottish Professional Football League. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  46. ^ "LMA Manager of the Month". LMA. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
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